o-miami

If you’re in Miami right now, keep an eye out for stealth (and not-so-stealth) poetry. The 4th annual O, Miami festival kicked off this week and organizers are promising a wealth of poetry in unexpected places – I think my favorite might be the “Murinals:”

Murinals are poems
installed in perhaps the least likely place: on urinals across Miami-Dade county.
Using classic gold leaf, artist Ian Thomas paints poems onto the porcelain
“wall” of Miami urinals. The installations are only completed however by the
participation of the “male” audience members who “defile” the hallowed words
while simultaneously “exposing” themselves to the poets’ words, thereby
creating a tension between dominance and vulnerability.

Other highlights include “zipodes,” poetry based on south Florida zip codes, and the return of “Wallace Freezins,” who’ll appear at Miami area events selling poetically wrapped ice cream (because the only emperor is the emperor of ice cream, dontcha know).

WLRN is kicking off the O, Miami Poetry Festival with a poetry contest. They’re asking South Floridians to snap photographs of their favorite things in the area, and then write a poem based on the object including the phrase, “This is where.” Give it a shot.

Sokee, Great Dane (3 y/o), @barkhaus HQ, Miami, FL • “Great Danes are super sensitive. They take all corrections personally, like a big baby. They’re still Mastiffs, though, and can get defensive with improper training.”